Target reached!
When writing the script and creating the budget we thought practically about the log...
PIGEON - a short film
London, England, United Kingdom
Aim
A female-led project is raising funds to make a short film exploring the bizarre reconciliation of a revenant spirit and a grieving daughter
We're hoping to raise a total of £15,000 through Crowdfunder and various UK funding schemes.
- £5,000 will help us pay our cast and crew.
- £15,000 will go into production, distribution and helping this film reach its creative potential.
Just a Jewish Indian and an Argentinian Brit who love to tell stories.
Story Summary
Set on a beautiful farm at the back end of Spring, Paloma, a pugnacious twenty-something-year-old, spends lockdown with the tedious prospect of packing up the childhood home she thought she had left behind. Time moves slowly in the house, so with a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other, Paloma whiles away the days inside the memories she has worked hard to forget. But with the help of some unexpected strangers and her elderly dog Gustavo, Paloma must learn to navigate her habitual conflicts by reconciling with the ghosts of her past.
Cat, what inspired you to write the script, and why would you like to turn it into a film?
After leaving home at a young age, having to spend lockdown with my parents was challenging, and we found ourselves regressing into our previous domestic roles; that of the needy child and the anxious parent. Being trapped in my childhood home, I was visited by memories and emotions I had worked hard to repress.
I started writing this script as a way to escape the tensions in my household. On top of the unusual situation we were in, strange things were happening around me that were simply too surreal to forget!
I hope this film allows us to look at the complicated relationships we may have with more tenderness and kindness. If we can view others and their actions in a more empathetic light, we will in turn begin to understand and forgive more about ourselves. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that, rather than isolating ourselves from the world, it’s always better to reach out to the people who love us with compassion and understanding.
Tulsi, what drew you into the story, and why do you need to make this film?
The relationship between a mother and daughter is an incredibly special one.
As a daughter in her twenties, I’ve had my fair share of arguments with my mother. But as I’ve grown and developed an adult relationship with her, I’ve in turn learnt lots about myself.
What initially drew me to Cat’s script was the idea of seeing a woman who has already ‘come of age’ feel incomplete. There is something buried deep inside Paloma that she’s too proud to face, and as a director, it’s always incredibly fun to have a script that personifies a character’s internal thoughts and emotions through external objects. I tried to do this with my last short, Sanjay Saves The World, and I’m very eager to learn from the creative missteps that I made and create a richer, more emotionally intelligent follow-up.
Due to the current climate we find ourselves in, I feel this story will resonate with a lot of us, as we have essentially been made to turn inwards and reflect on our place in the world around us. Some of us have also had to face being isolated within our own homes; filled with memories of our past, facing the good and the buried. This film will portray the nostalgic feeling bubbling inside our stomachs, the anxiety of shutting off the outside world and the loneliness we may feel as a result. However, it will also shine a positive light on an otherwise unusual situation.
What crew are involved?
Links to previous work by our super talented crew:
Tulsi Behl (director): https://tulsibehl.com
Paul Cook (cinematographer): https://www.paulcookfilm.com
Krishan Shada (1st AD): https://www.instagram.com/kumaravision/
Harriett Magill (sound designer): https://vimeo.com/444364167
Liam Gough (editor): https://vimeo.com/388862511 (password: doc20)
Overview of where the money will go
The last year has been incredibly tough for freelance filmmakers, so we would like to pay our crew for their talents. A large chunk of the above pie chart is dedicated to their pay.
The COVID section is a very recent department. We will need to test all cast and crew and provide adequate PPE, which costs quite a bit of money! This is why we've dedicated a chunk of the budget to creating the safest set possible.
A contingency is always needed in a good budget. This is a kind of 'safety blanket' of funds if there is an unforeseen emergency spend.
The production slice includes fees for Assistant Directors to help us shoot everything, transport to get the crew to set, public liability insurance to cover the crew and accommodation for the main cast. This is to maintain the 'bubble' system put in place to reduce the risk of COVID transmission.
If we get enough money, we will be able to hire a beautiful location from our dear friends at Monksmead Farm. They are a family-run, multi-purpose, exclusive use location just over an hour from London, in West Berkshire. Click on the logo above to see just how stunning the location is!
In addition to this, we want to help out independent businesses in the local area of Berkshire, so with enough funding we're intending to feed the crew with some lovely treats from local bakeries.
The Plan Of Action
1. Try and acquire funding from numerous schemes with the aim to get the money by the end of Spring. That, along with the money we raise from our Crowdfunder, will allow us to set our prep plan in motion.
2. We will begin the casting process in April - May and conduct remote, Zoom rehearsals from the end of May - June.
3. Remote costume fittings will need to take place, whereby we order and make costumes and send them to the actors to try on.
4. In our pre-production meetings we will arrange COVID tests for all cast and crew a day before filming.
5. Shoot the film over 3 days.
6. Edit the film and have a picture lock by September, and finish the sound by early October.
7. Begin submitting to our chosen film festivals.
8. Create and send off all of your very exciting rewards!
9. If we are allowed to do so, we will host a premier for our film at a boutique cinema, inviting friends, family and some of you lucky pledgers.
We now leave you with a poem by Oskar Hansen.
Pigeons
There are many pigeons in the Cascais evening park and
see one I remember, the one that trips stylishly around
looking for crumbs, it looks at me, to see if I'm eating.
In May it was a baby on my terrace trying out its wings,
one day it succeeded and flew off.
A pigeon doesn’t remember its childhood, so it doesn’t
have the burden of remembering infancy, blames no one
when things go wrong. Two women come and sit on my
bench, talk about offspring who will not listen; pity they
have not understood, like a pigeon mother, to let go.
This project successfully funded on 15th April 2021